Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a boss or master, esp. of a show or circus; also as a term of address.

1672		J. Phillips Maronides (1678) V 82: These gentle worsds made Gaffer Thwackfidis / Most patiently lay by his Ox-hides.
1700		‘Sir William Butler’s Bald Colt’ in Playford Pills to Purge Melancholy II 269: My Gaffer Hunt ran after Sir William Butler’s bald Colt.
1719		in D’Urfey Pills to Purge Melancholy IV 123: In comes our Gaffer Underwood, / And sits him on the Bench.
1735		Dyche & Pardon New General Eng. Dict. n.p.: Gaffer A familiar Word mostly used in the Country for Master.
1749		Smollett (trans.) Adventures of Gil Blas I 11: Produce this trout of yours, gaffer Corcuelo.
1834		Drogheda Jrnl 10 June 1/2: Gaffer Grey — Do a job for the mob.
1864, 1867, 1870		Hotten Sl. Dict.
1871		C. Money Knocking About in N.Z. 17: The ‘gaffer,’ finding me not equal to the others, who were all old hands, gave me the ‘sack’.
1880		D.W. Barrett Life and Work among The Navvies 35: If you could make up your mind to ‘stick to a job’ a little bit longer at a time, it might be better for you, and the ‘gaffer’ too.
1882		Sydney Sl. Dict. (2 edn) 4: Gaffer - Proprietor.
1895		Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 31: Gaffer, a term applied by tellers or navvies to their overseer.
1895		‘’Arry on Derby Day’ in Punch 1 June 258/1: Because his new Gaffer’s a Hawkeite, as means a old-fossilised fool.
1900		Eve. Teleg. (Dundee) 6 Apr. 5/2: The lasses [...] had taken the step in consequence of their gaffer having been discharged [...] cessation of work on their part was by way of protest.
1913		A. Irvine My Lady of the Chimney Corner 100: As if the soul was a navvy over whom Anna stood as gaffer.
1914		R. Tressell Ragged Trousered Philanthropists (1955) 450: I never stands no cheek from no gaffers! If a guv’nor says two bloody words to me, I downs me tools.
1922		Joyce Ulysses 427: Outside a shuttered pub a bunch of loiterers listen to a tale which their broken snouted gaffer rasps out with raucous humour.
1938		J. Curtis They Drive by Night 147: ‘New bloody trook this,’ said the driver suddenly. ‘Gaffer’s gone daft or summat.’.
1958		A. Sillitoe Sat. Night and Sun. Morning 21: If the gaffer got on to you now you could always tell him where to put the job.
1962		C. Clausen I Love You Honey, But the Season’s Over 114: He had travelled with the Gaffer and some of the other show bosses.
1970		A. Sillitoe Start in Life (1979) 256: Here’s your wage packet from the gaffer.
1986		F. Taylor Auf Wiedersehen Pet Two 9: He’d been the gaffer back in Germany, and he still felt responsible for the lad.
1999		K. Sampson Powder 459: New gaffers, though. Only been there a coupla weeks.
2005		B. Hare Urban Grimshaw 286: There’s two girls [...] They’re the gaffers.
2009		L. McIlvanney All the Colours 118: Something in the eyes, the way he carried himself: this was the gaffer.
2012		(con. 1980s) I. Welsh Skagboys 26: It’s jist a matter ay time before the gaffer tipples.

2. (US) a foreman, esp. an electrician.

1865		Pall Mall Gaz. 19 Oct. 9/2: They enquired of the ‘gaffers’ if their term were agreed to by the employers.
1889		‘The Gaffers of the Gang’ [broadside ballad] We are the boys that can do the excavations, We are the lads for the ‘atin’ and the dhrinkin’, With the ladies we are so fascinatin’, Because we are the gaffers of the gang [F&H].
1939		P. Di Donato Christ in Concrete 224: I’ll give the gaffer a buzz.
1940		B. Appel People Talk (1972) 372: The head electrician or ‘gaffer’ nods at Russell.
1950		S. Murphy Stone Mad (1966) 15: And ‘whatever you do, boy, see that the gaffer’s gallon is boiling!’ That was sound advice as he’d have a lip on him if he had to wait.
1956		N. Algren Walk on the Wild Side 21: Drinkers and dancers, hard-rock drillers, gaffers and gamblers, all alike.
1968		K. Brasselle Cannibals 204: Get only the best cameramen, gaffers, props.
1974		Journal of the Irish Railway Record Society Oct. n.p.: He might cajole the MGWR ‘Gaffer’ (the local name for Shed Foreman) to allow him to make use of the MGWR turntable [BS].
1981		J. Wambaugh Glitter Dome (1982) 145: I used to be gaffer before I got into photography.
1999		Guardian Guide 12–18 June 57: Tributes to everyone – from Dave the gaffer to God.

3. (Aus. prison) a dominant prisoner.

1984		B. Ellem Doing Time 189: gaffer: the boss prisoner.
1990		Tupper & Wortley Aus. Prison Sl. Gloss. 🌐 Gaffer. The prisoner who exerts the greatest influence in a particular prison.